第一章上 雷切尔·林德太太大吃一惊 Mrs. Rachel Lynde is Surprised

Anne of Green Gables(绿山墙的安妮)

By

Lucy Maude Montgomery

Chapter 1: Mrs. Rachel Lynde is Surprised

第一章：雷切尔·林德太太大吃一惊

Mrs. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies’eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde’s Hollow it was a quiet, well conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde’s door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof.

hollow山谷  fringe边缘的  alder桤树  traverse穿过  intricate复杂的,错综的

cascade瀑布  decency正派(安安静静)  decorum礼仪,端正(规规矩矩)

ferret out搜出,搜获  wherefore原因  thereof它的

雷切尔·林德太太就住在阿冯利干道插入一个小山谷的地方。小山谷两边桤树成荫，结满了像女士们的耳坠一样的果子。一条小溪横穿路面。它发源于远处古老的卡思伯特领地的森林，流经森林地区的上游，有着幽僻的池塘和瀑布，以错综复杂的小溪著称；可当它流到林德山谷时，却变成了一条安安静静、规规矩矩的小河了。这是因为，任何事物如果不适当地考虑一下体面和礼节，是通不过雷切尔太太的门前的，就连一条小溪也不例外。也许，小溪意识到雷切尔太太正坐在窗口，犀利的目光老是盯着窗外经过的一切，从小溪和孩子注意起，一旦发现有什么奇怪或者不顺眼的事情，她非打听个水落石出才会安下心来。

There are plenty of people in Avonlea and out of it, who can attend closely to their neighbor’s business by dint of neglecting their own; but Mrs. Rachel Lynde was one of those capable creatures who can manage their own concerns and those of other folks into the bargain. She was a notable housewife; her work was always done and well done; she “ran” the Sewing Circle, helped run the Sunday-school, and was the strongest prop of the Church Aid Society and Foreign Missions Auxiliary. Yet with all this Mrs. Rachel found abundant time to sit for hours at her kitchen window, knitting “cotton warp” quilts—she had knitted sixteen of them, as Avonlea housekeepers were wont to tell in awed voices—and keeping a sharp eye on the main road that crossed the hollow and wound up the steep red hill beyond. Since Avonlea occupied a little triangular peninsula jutting out into the Gulf of St. Lawrence with water on two sides of it, anybody who went out of it or into it had to pass over that hill road and so run the unseen gauntlet of Mrs. Rachel’s all-seeing eye.

by dint of用,凭借  neglect忽视，忽略  notable显著的,重要的(会当家的)

cotton wrap棉芯  wont习惯于  awed肃然起敬的

wound up紧张的,兴奋的  steep陡峭的  triangular三角的  peninsula半岛

jut使……伸出  gauntlet长手套

在阿冯利及其周遭地带，许多人往往忽略他们自己的事情，密切地注意乡邻的一举一动；可是有些能干的人却既能安排好自己的事情，又能兼顾别人的事情，雷切尔太太就是其中之一。她是个会当家的家庭主妇，手头的工作总是很早就做完，而且完成得呱呱叫；她“创办”了缝纫组，帮忙开办了主日学校，她还是教会救助团体和国外布道附属机构最得力的支持者。然而，即使这样，雷切尔太太还是能抽出大量的时间，接连几个小时坐在厨房的窗口，绗缝“棉芯”被子——她已经缝好十六床这样的被褥了，阿冯利的管理家务的主妇习惯用肃然起敬的口吻这样告诉别人——同时用锐利的目光扫视着这条穿过山谷，看向远处陡峭的红山丘蜿蜒而上的干道。阿冯利拥有一个三角形的小半岛，伸入圣劳伦斯湾，所以半岛两面临水，出入海湾的每一个人都得经过山丘干道，受到雷切尔太太洞察一切的目光的无形监视。

She was sitting there one afternoon in early June. The sun was coming in at the window warm and bright; the orchard on the slope below the house was in a bridal flush of pinky-white bloom, hummed over by a myriad of bees. Thomas Lynde—a meek little man whom Avonlea people called “Rachel Lynde’s husband”—was sowing his late turnip seed on the hill field beyond the barn; and Matthew Cuthbert ought to have been sowing his on the big red brook field away over by Green Gables. Mrs. Rachel knew that he ought because she had heard him tell Peter Morrison the evening before in William J. Blair’s store over at Carmody that he meant to sow his turnip seed the next afternoon. Peter had asked him, of course, for Matthew Cuthbert had never been known to volunteer information about anything in his whole life.

orchard果园  slope斜坡  bridal新娘的  flush脸红  

hum嗡嗡声  myriad无数的

meek温顺的  turnip萝卜

在六月初的一个下午，她又坐在那儿了。温暖明亮的阳光透过窗户照了进来，屋下斜坡上的果园里开着白中带粉的花朵，就像新娘面颊上泛起的红晕一样，成千上万的小蜜蜂围着花朵嗡嗡叫着，托马斯·林德——阿冯利那一带的人管他叫“雷切尔·林德的丈夫”，一个瘦小、温顺的男人——正在谷仓后面的山田里种晚萝卜；这会儿，在绿山墙农舍近旁那一大片红色的溪边田地里，马修·卡思伯特也该在种他的晚萝卜了。因为前一天晚上在卡莫迪的威廉·J．布莱尔的杂货店里，雷切尔太太听到他告诉彼得·莫里森，他打算第二天下午种萝卜，所以她知道。当然啰，这是彼得问起以后他才说出来的，因为众所周知，马修·卡思伯特有生以来从未主动地把他的情况告诉过别人。

And yet here was Matthew Cuthbert, at half-past three on the afternoon of a busy day, placidly driving over the hollow and up the hill; moreover, he wore a white collar and his best suit of clothes, which was plain proof that he was going out of Avonlea; and he had the buggy and the sorrel mare, which betokened that he was going a considerable distance. Now, where was Matthew Cuthbert going and why was he going there?

placidly平静地,平稳地  buggy轻便马车  

sorrel mare栗色母马  betoken预示   

可是，在那个大忙日子的下午三点半，马修·卡思伯特却跑到这儿来了，不紧不慢地驾着车穿过山谷上了山坡；更奇怪的是，他戴了一条白色的硬领，还穿上了最好的衣服，显而易见，他是要到阿冯利外面去了；他赶着栗色母马拉的轻便马车，这表明他准备走相当长的一段路程。那么，马修·卡思伯特要上哪儿去呢？他又为什么要上那儿去呢？

Had it been any other man in Avonlea, Mrs. Rachel, deftly putting this and that together, might have given a pretty good guess as to both questions. But Matthew so rarely went from home that it must be something pressing and unusual which was taking him; he was the shyest man alive and hated to have to go among strangers or to any place where he might have to talk. Matthew, dressed up with a white collar and driving in a buggy, was something that didn’t happen often. Mrs. Rachel, ponder as she might, could make nothing of it and her afternoon’s enjoyment was spoiled.

deftly巧妙地  ponder仔细考虑  

如果当时阿冯利大道上另有一个男子，那么善于巧妙地把一些情况综合起来的雷切尔太太或许就可以对这个问题猜得八九不离十了。马修难得出门，准是有什么紧迫的、不寻常的事要他去解决；他是世上顶顶羞怯的男子，不喜欢在陌生人中间周旋或者到他可能要同人家交谈的地方去。可现在呢，马修戴着一条白色硬领，还驾着一辆轻便马车，这可不是件常有的事。雷切尔太太绞尽脑汁，苦苦思索了好久，却一无所获，于是她一下午的兴致就这样给一扫而光了。

“I’ll just step over to Green Gables after tea and find out from Marilla where he’s gone and why,” the worthy woman finally concluded. “He doesn’t generally go to town this time of year and he NEVER visits; if he’d run out of turnip seed he wouldn’t dress up and take the buggy to go for more; he wasn’t driving fast enough to be going for a doctor. Yet something must have happened since last night to start him off. I’m clean puzzled, that’s what, and I won’t know a minute’s peace of mind or conscience until I know what has taken Matthew Cuthbert out of Avonlea today.”

conclude决定

“吃过茶点，我就步行去绿山墙农舍，从玛丽拉那儿探问出他去哪儿，去干什么。”这位可敬的妇人最后做出决定。“在一年中的这个时候，他一般是不到镇上去的，而且他也从不探亲访友；如果是萝卜籽用光了，他也不至于要如此穿戴打扮，驾着马车去买；去请医生吧，他又走得不够匆忙。对啦，从昨晚到他出发，一定发生了什么事情。我真完全给难住了。这究竟是怎么回事？不弄清楚是什么事情促使马修·卡思伯特今天走出阿冯利，我的心情和良心是不会有一分钟安宁的。”

Accordingly after tea Mrs. Rachel set out; she had not far to go; the big, rambling, orchard-embowered house where the Cuthberts lived was a scant quarter of a mile up the road from Lynde’s Hollow. To be sure, the long lane made it a good deal further. Matthew Cuthbert’s father, as shy and silent as his son after him, had got as far away as he possibly could from his fellow men without actually retreating into the woods when he founded his homestead. Green Gables was built at the furthest edge of his cleared land and there it was to this day, barely visible from the main road along which all the other Avonlea houses were so sociably situated. Mrs. Rachel Lynde did not call living in such a place LIVING at all.

rambling蔓生的  orchard-embowered果树成荫的  

scant不足的  lane小道

这样，吃了茶点，雷切尔太太就出发了。她并没有多少路要走。卡思伯特家居住的草木蔓生、果树成荫的大房子在路的那一边，离林德山谷不到四分之一英里。当然，狭窄幽长的小路使路程看起来要远得多。马修·卡思伯特的父亲像他的这个儿子一样羞怯、沉默。当初创建家宅时，他尽可能地远离他的同胞，就差没整个儿退缩到森林里去了。绿山墙农舍筑在他开垦的那片土地的边缘，从干道上几乎看不见。阿冯利其他居民的房屋友好地紧密排列在干道的两边。雷切尔太太认为住在那种幽僻的地方，根本不能叫生活。